Grim scoreboard after long trip for Drouin
If statistics were kept of turnovers from misdirected kicks and handballs and fumbles Drouin might have set some sort of record at Bairnsdale on Saturday.
Those basic errors were the story behind a grim scoreboard that read Bairnsdale 23-17, Drouin 10-8.
The Bairnsdale oval couldn’t be blamed for any of the Hawks’ woes. It was in superb condition. Drouin started well enough and had much better of the play but didn’t capitalise.
It was the Redlegs that got the first goal through Russell Cowan; his start to a superb day whether forward or on the ball that ended with five goals against his name.
The Hawks fired back with Eddie Morris finding space to accept a Liam Anderson pass and goal.
Anderson got the next two goals himself after also setting up Morris for another chance that he failed to convert.
By quarter time Bairnsdale had worked back to a narrow 3-4 to 3-2 lead.
The rot set in for Drouin in the second quarter after three “gifted” goals to the Redlegs.
The Hawks propensity for stop-start chipping the ball across the ground and backwards gave Bairnsdale its first for the quarter.
Drouin’s chain of passes broke down, as they usually do when overdone, with a fumble. A handpass, a kick, a Redlegs’ goal. That easy! The next two were even easier. Two shocking across ground short passes landed in the arms of Bairnsdale players for goals.
A terrific goal square pack mark by Ryan Taylor and Clayton Kingi getting on the end of an attacking move to run into an open goal were Drouin’s only highlights for the term in which the Redlegs kicked six goals to open a 29-point lead.
It wasn’t exactly game over when the sides went to the dressing rooms at half time.
But it virtually was when Bairnsdale rammed through the first three goals of the third term.
To Drouin’s credit it showed some fight.
It got three successive goals from Eddie Morris, senior debutant Jye Mitchell and Liam Axford but two in response by Bairnsdale had the gap out to 50 points at the last change.
Mitchell, a graduate from last year’s thirds, was by no means out of place at senior level.
He contested well, ran hard to position throughout the game and showed a bit of toughness when his head hit the ground solidly from a tackle but he bounced back quickly.
There were only a few things to cheer about for Drouin in the last term in which Bairnsdale kicked another eight goals including the last six.
The Hawks got two – by Cambell Jolly and Eddie Morris who took it on himself to kick a goal from wide out after team mates had just missed chances he set up with a couple of brilliant and quick handpasses.
Morris’ game was one of the highlights of the day for Drouin.
He showed plenty of class and skill and was the side’s main goalkicker for the match with three.
Anderson had really promising patches and has got some confidence back in his marking, Jolly and Jeb McLeod worked hard in the packs and Jackson Kos in defence won a lot of the ball but spoiled an otherwise good game with some poor disposal.
Bairnsdale has some real talent; Cowan superb on Saturday, with Simon Deery, Nick Sing, Dylan Somerville and Connor Steel not far behind.
New full forward Josh Kiss showed he will also trouble plenty of defences as did Joshua Kiss. Each kicked four goals. Drouin will be much more competitive as the season develops and will probably cause a few upsets.
But if it wants its and one of the league’s premier ruckman Bob McCallum as a key forward for much of the games it will need to find ways to attack more quickly and give him chances to win one on one contests and avoid oppositions having the time to drop back and block space where he can lead.